The Beatitudes
Micah 6:1-8 | Matthew 5:1-12 In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’ three years or so of ministry is bookended by the word disciples. It begins, with the calling of disciples, and ends with the great commission, to go and make disciples of all nations.
Baptism of Jesus
Matthew 3:13-17 The fact that we have four different accounts of Jesus’ life, recorded in the four gospels, is both a great blessing and a potential problem.
No one has seen God
John 1:9-18 One of the major themes of John’s gospel, perhaps his most striking imagery, is that of light and darkness.
Peace on Earth?
Matthew 2:1-12 One thing that has really stuck me over the weeks of advent, as we’ve taken as our theme Isaiah’s words that “he shall be called the Prince of Peace” – and that, judging by the comments I’ve heard from others, has struck more than just me, is how powerful an idea, and how […]
Peace through justice through truth
Isaiah 11:1-10 | Matthew 3:1-8 A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. How timely an image is this for us in New South Wales at the moment, as we watch the news of bushfires and breath the smoke blanketing the city.
The Prophets
Isaiah 2:1-5 And so today we begin that journey of getting ready for Christmas, the journey of advent.
A Church for the Environment
Genesis 1:31 | Psalm 24:1-2 | John 3:11-17 So over these few weeks before we move into advent we’ve been exploring what it means to be part of a bigger Church – part of a Church which is more than just Roseville, more than just Uniting, more than just early twenty-first century.
Sycamore Trees
Luke 19:1-10 I doubt that there has ever been a society in which being a tax collector was a profession which would make you automatically popular amongst your peers. Even in a stable democracy like Australia, in which we have a say in the government that spends our tax dollars, and in which, for all […]
Keep my commandments
John 15:9-17 Chapter 15 of John’s gospel begins with the image of the vine – “I am the vine,” Jesus declares, you are the branches; abide in me and I will abide in you, and then you will bear much fruit. Here, in the second half of that saying, Jesus takes that phrase, “abide in […]
Frontier Services
Psalm 46:1-5 | Isaiah 40:28-31 When I was a kid, I lived in what I thought at the time was a small village in England, a long way away from the city. Well, it was in England, so I got that bit right, and technically it was a village, although Woodstock was big enough to […]
Seeds and weeds
Mark 4:26-34 Right back at the beginning of Mark’s Gospel the author gives us a one sentence summary of Jesus’ preaching: “Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’”. When you read […]
Not a spirit of timidity
2 Timothy 1:1-14 Today’s reading from Paul’s second letter to Timothy gave me the perfect excuse to indulge in one of my favourite sermon-procrastinating pastimes – searching the internet for interesting quotes.
Dishonest Wealth
Luke 16:1-9 Don’t you just love it when Jesus praises dishonest behaviour? I particularly like the way that many Bibles, choose to spin this as the ‘parable of the shrewd manager’. Yeah, ok, the guy acted shrewdly, but I wonder what you would call a man who, afraid he was going to be sacked for […]
Ninety nine or one?
Luke 15:1-10 Don’t you just love this parable? This image of God as the Shepherd who cares about the individual sheep, who seeks out the lost, who celebrates over the return of the wanderer.